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The Nurse Shortage: A Problem Money Can Solve

By Mark E. Dixon

This just in: Nurses need more money.

That was a key finding of a report to the New York State Assembly by a task force assembled to study the state's nurse shortage. After 4 months of research and hearings, the task force concluded in August that the situation could only be addressed by recruiting more people into the profession and by improving pay and working conditions to retain the nurses already in the profession.

This was one of several recommendations that seemed in harmony with those of the Workforce Investment Network (WIN), a consortium of New York health care organizations, which proposed this past February that new "targeted" funding be obtained to better compensate health care professionals and enhanced recruitment tools.

"We welcome the findings of this report," said Karen Ballard, director of practice and governmental affairs for the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), which testified at the task force hearings. "It supports our own recommendations that we need a comprehensive approach to solving the nursing shortage. Without government-supported efforts to both recruit new nurses and retain experienced nurses, we will face a monumental crisis within the next 5-10 years." Other task force recommendations included:

	Restricting mandatory overtime to emergencies;
	Establishing staffing guidelines;
	Scholarships and stipends for nursing students;
	Image campaigns to attract more young people into the profession. During the past legislative session, NYSNA actively lobbied the assembly for legislation banning overtime, establishing "safe" staffing, creating a scholarship program and protecting nurse whistleblowers. To date, none has passed. WIN, meanwhile, has proposed adjusting Medicaid rates to better reflect labor costs and providing new nurses with incentives such as state income tax credits and/or loan forgiveness. Other proposals include eliminating regulations that divert direct-care staff from patient care, additional funding to colleges and providers for education programs and grants to better market health care opportunities. "Although there have been staff shortages in the past, this one is very different and will worsen over time, absent an aggressive, multifaceted agenda to invest in supporting and expanding the entire health care work force," said Daniel Sisto, president of the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS), an association of 550 hospitals and other providers. HANYS is a member of WIN. ADVANCE website / November 2001 Note: This is one sample of "Recruitment and Retention (RandR) Solutions," focusing on nurse-recruitment issues that I write monthly for ADVANCE magazine's website.

Mark E. Dixon

757 Upper Gulph Road

Wayne, PA 19087-2022

USA

610-971-0649

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